Bo Dallas’ debut and the Intercontinental Championship

[#hamler]

With all the Brock Lesnar and Rocky hoopla, I’m sure Bo Dallas is the last thing on everyone’s minds.

With that said, former NXT star Bo Dallas made his main roster debut at Sunday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view. Dallas really looked good for someone who hasn’t even been on a Raw or Smackdown show yet. Lasting nearly 20 minutes in the Royal Rumble match itself, he would go on to eliminate Wade Barrett in what Cole over exaggeratedly stated the biggest upset in the Rumble's history. While it was indeed an upset, it’s possible we might have witnessed the foundation being laid for a possible title match between Barrett and Bo Dallas. This past Monday on Raw, Dallas even scored a lucky pinfall on the Intercontinental Champion leaving Wade Barrett furious. Despite the negative opinions of Bo Dallas, what a better way to kick start your WWE career then by feuding with one of the midcard’s top superstars in Wade Barrett? As a rookie, going the Jeff Hardy/Undertaker ladder match route, could really earn Bo Dallas some much needed respect from the fans and his peers.

Remembering that Bo Dallas is only 22 years of age, what does this mean for the rest of his career? Does he have potential to become a crowd favorite and top notch midcarder? Is he destined for even greater things? As someone who only watched a few episodes of NXT, I haven’t seen nearly enough to pass judgment on the guy. But from the looks of his two days within the WWE, he could very well be on his way to becoming Wade Barrett’s foil for his Intercontinental Championship – and I really wouldn’t have a problem with that.

What are your opinions on Bo Dallas’ debut?

Could Bo potentially be the foil to Wade Barrett's Intercontinental Championship?

Are you at all invested in this feud?

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I haven't seen enough of him to really judge his in-ring ability. However, he just, he just looks awful. Ok, fine. Have him feud with Barrett over the IC title in his first feud. But under no circumstances should he actually win the title.

Lasting and looking adequate in a Rumble match doesn't mean a thing. He still lost his debut and I'd fully expect him to slip down the roster fairly quickly. I might be being harsh, but based on appearance I see him at the level of Heath Slater. Therefore I look forward to his Superstars matches.

 

[asslber]

I know this means absolutely nothing, but this is the exact same way I debuted my personal CAW of myself in WWE '12. I had my CAW debut in the Rumble, eliminated Wade Barrett(who was the European Champion instead) and beat him the next night on RAW.

With that being said, my CAW went on the opposite rout of Bo Dallas. My CAW has achieved some upper-mid-card status in the WWE since, something Bo Dallas will never see the light of his.

He has no charisma, his moveset is boring, his look is even worse, and he will by no circumstances survive the WWE lifestyle.

 

[terrylee]

I know this means absolutely nothing, but this is the exact same way I debuted my personal CAW of myself in WWE '12. I had my CAW debut in the Rumble, eliminated Wade Barrett(who was the European Champion instead) and beat him the next night on RAW.

With that being said, my CAW went on the opposite rout of Bo Dallas. My CAW has achieved some upper-mid-card status in the WWE since, something Bo Dallas will never see the light of his.

He has no charisma, his moveset is boring, his look is even worse, and he will by no circumstances survive the WWE lifestyle.

... No one cares about your CAW, you idiot.

Anyways, I think that he has a really bland moveset, and he looks horrid. If he makes it to the upper-mid-card, I'd be really surprised.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

They set up the wrong Rotunda kid for the big Rumble debut... it shoulda been Bray Wyatt who debuted and eliminated some names like a Mysterio or someone. "Why do you hide behind a mask Rey? I can save you..." would have been far more interesting.

The only thing I can see and I hope it's not accurate is that they are going the Rocky Maivia route with Bo, have the hating done early in the hopes he can turn it around... cue cloying segment where The Rock gives him a pep talk/they team up...

 

[mojmass]

come on guys who care about charisma and appearance !! he is just a rookie. and don't fool yourselves he has nothing to do with wade IC championship as you said it was a lucky pin and he is going to lose to wade sooner or later. and about charisma and appearance and mic skill and other bullshits just give him time he have work on some matches show his skills and then start talking.
all of you that posted and had negative view of him are expecting so much from a rookie.
but i have to say expecting too much is better than expecting nothing at all like WWE did on royal rumble. he pulled out some great move but WWE didn't even bother to show them on camera.
and i think he will return to NXT soon because if you put aside the high probable fact that WWE will ignore him, currently there isn't much room for him in main brands right now.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

On the contrary, I don't see negatives in Dallas himself, but in the way they are presenting him. His brother went out, came up with a new gimmick and is considered the "next big thing" by many as a result, where as Bo is this vanilla, boring "blue chipper" gimmick, it sucked when Rocky did it, it sucked when Orton had it and it defo sucked when Cody had it but all of them found something in themselves and got out of it very quickly... The issue is why does WWE go this "generic" route when you have 2 brothers, one has clearly tried before, failed and come up with something new, unique and exciting and then you bring Bo in as this generic babyface ... it's just going to draw unfavourable comparison once Bray does debut.

Maybe they should have put him in a tag team with Richie Steamboat or something but then of course you end up like Legacy... and who thought that Cody would be where he is and DiBiase where he is at that time?.

I can see them debuting him before Wyatt, as they can then play down the sibling side of things or if Bo is failing they can have Wyatt bring him "back into the fold" but otherwise they are setting him up to fail as it stands, none of these "chosen one" gimmicks ever work long term and for every Orton or Cody who does make it there is a Drew or DiBiase who may be great in the ring but don't have the inate personality to branch off from it.

 

[zwbruno]

Not sure how many of the posters here have watched Bo Dallas on NXT, but the dude is anything but vanilla. He is a masocistic FACE who thrives on punishment and punches. He debuted the gimmick by issuing an open challenge to the entire WWE locker room and ended up facing the Big Show, guess how that ended?

Since then he has been on the rise and winning matches. Regal has sold his gimmick really well, and Dallas plays the part great in the ring. Wade Barrett and Bo Dallas are perfect for each other because Wade is a bare-knuckle brawler and Dallas thrives on the abuse.

I see it going the route of them trading wins until a blow off match where Wade needs to Bullhammer him 3 or 4 times to finally getting him to stay down. It would build Barrett as a ruthless heel and Dallas as a never say die babyface.

You guys are so quick to judge after only seeing him 1 or 2 times. Have some patience and let the story and characters breathe.

 

[Mustang Sally]

....he would go on to eliminate Wade Barrett in what Cole over exaggeratedly stated the biggest upset in the Rumble's history.

I think it's great when a rookie who hasn't been hyped shows up and experiences early success; the concept flies in the face of those fans who think the company favors only veterans. While I believe in the concept of paying one's dues, it's a refreshing change when WWE switches up and offers something like the Bo Dallas win in the one-on-one match-up against Wade.

That said, Barrett is facing a tournament for his IC title and there are going to be a lot of people vying for it. Bo Dallas is one, and while he technically has the same chance as anyone else (provided he's even entered in the IC Cup), Wade has more to worry about than just Bo Dallas.

Incidentally, regarding the above quote, I still believe the greatest "upset" at the Royal Rumble was Maven eliminating Undertaker in '02.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I've not seen enough of the guy to really have an opinion on his in-ring ability.

As far as his look goes, he's in good shape and doesn't look like he flat out camps out in the gym all day. He doesn't look all that impressive from a physical standpoint. His build looks nearly identical to that of The Miz. If you put long, very stringy hair on Miz, they could pass for twins.

As far as the angle goes, I've got no problem with it. Having the rookie come out of nowhere and gain an upset victory over a veteran can be fun sometimes. As long as they don't put the title on him, then it's fine. It gives him a high profile feud and some high profile matches against a big star in the company.

Personally, I'd have brought Bray Wyatt up first. His character as this charismatic "swamp preacher" is totally unique and he's great at it. You'd have never thought that he was Husky Harris once upon a time.

 

[VelvetSkyPoontangPie]

After watching his match this past Monday on RAW against Barrett the first thing that popped in my head was The 123 Kid vs Razor Ramon.
Rookie that looks like a teenager in Jr High debuts against a man that looks like he would break him in half only to some how pull off a hugh upset win.
It will probably end up with the two of them in the finals of the I.C. Tournament only for Barrett to get his revenge.

 

[Trance Metaphor]

What are your opinions on Bo Dallas’ debut?

I saw some of his FCW matches, but I didn't think there was anything special about him. It was cool to see him debut at the Royal Rumble and last as long as he did. I personally don't see anything wrong with him and it's hard to judge based on what little we've seen of him on the main roster. He beat Wade Barrett with the same level of shock factor as Yoshi Tatsu defeating Shelton Benjamin or Carlito defeating John Cena. It was cool to see, but there was a lingering feeling that he'd eventually get his ass handed to him by the same opponent.

Could Bo potentially be the foil to Wade Barrett's Intercontinental Championship?

This might or might not be the case. I could certainly see it as another upset victory like Santino over Umaga. I don't think it'd be good though. The Intercontinental Championship had a great resurgence recently with Kofi Kingston and Wade Barrett both putting over the title. Why eliminate all of that, so that a rookie could hold it? Makes no sense. This title should be more challenging to win. These good luck charm victories are only fun on occasion, not on a frequent basis.

Are you at all invested in this feud?

Not really. While I wouldn't mind watching it just for the sake of seeing Bo Dallas' moveset; I think one or two matches between these two would be enough for me. I'd rather Bo Dallas enter a feud with someone like Cody Rhodes instead and work his way up to the Intercontinental title.

 

[MCMG]

I've not seen much of this guy but from what the little I have and his match with Barret on Raw he looks decent. I loved his debut. Eliminating Barret and than beating him on Raw was very good. Something fairly different and get people interested in him quickly.

 

[JaceEvans]

I would have more hope for this angle to work if not for Maven doing almost the exact same thing with Undertaker. Granted Undertaker( I think was WWE Champ) was a bigger player then what Wade Barret is but I hope WWE learned from its mistakes last time and we will all be surprised by a very interesting feud.

I agree that Bo looks about as generic as a bowl of corn flakes but maybe this feud with Barret will give him some personality and flair. Hell if you wanted the easy way out just copy Jeff hardy's looks and move-set (ala Ryback with Goldberg) and you got your self a money maker. Just my two-cents

 

[minoru808]

Bad way to debut a new guy. Change his name, cut his hair, put him in a tag team. he will NOT make it as a singles guy if he's thrown to the wolves so soon.

 

[The Extract]

I don't like Bo feuding with Barrett. From NXT, I already know that he isn't as bland as he has shown on the main roster. He is a good talent in the ring (though there were a few botches in the RAW match). Bo Dallas is a stupid name though. I would have been fine with Bo Rotunda or Rotundo or whatever he had before he got the name Bo Dallas. I am very happy that they are pushing the good, up and coming talent, but I don't believe it should have been given to him.

Richie Steamboat should have had this push. He is talented, pretty good on the mic, and most importantly, the feud was pretty much already set up! Wade Barrett and Ricky Steamboat had those few moments on a Raw or 2, and that should have been the moment for Richie to step up for his father, and end up beating Barrett for the Intercontinental Championship

 

[THTRobtaylor]

It's clear the original plan was for this to be Ritchie Steamboat... maybe Ricky wasn't well enough to participate fully or something else has curtailed it but it is clear what they are doing with Dallas is the same as with Orton, Maivia, Cody and other "3rd Gen" stars. Make them sickly annoying babyfaces with bland personas at the start... let the crowd get the hate out of their system and THEN feed in the character aspects to make the gimmick work long term.

 

[Radical]

What are your opinions on Bo Dallas’ debut?

Sucky.

The debut obviously was 'successful' as they decided to give him the rumble elimination and then a quick win on the guy he eliminated on Raw but he was probably the last guy from NXT who I think should have debuted at the Rumble.

I would rather have seen Mike Dalton or Xavier Woods debut the way Bo got to.

Bo just has the worst impression on my of any wrestler I've seen in a while. I just don't like his look AT ALL, don't care for his move-set (which doesn't seem to fit) or style.

I honestly feel bad that he is related to Bray Wyatt (the person, not the character) because Bray Wyatt is one of the BEST characters in ALL of wrestling not, IMO. He has got mic ability, he has got his own style of attire AND ring moves that WORKS and make sense.

Could Bo potentially be the foil to Wade Barrett's Intercontinental Championship?

I hate the idea that Bo's feud with Barrett might be the reason they cancelled the Intercontinental Cup just so they could specifically focus on a Barrett vs Bo feud.

Are you at all invested in this feud?

Invested? Only in the sense that I'll probably read about it in hopes that Bo gets a quick and brutal loss and gets sent straight back to NXT for good.

I'll be severely disappointed if Bo stays on with the main roster.


As much as I dislike Bo Dallas as a character right now I will say that I always give a wrestler I dislike the benefit of the doubt that they could CHANGE into a character I like.

Examples for me are Bray Wyatt and Heath Slater.

As Husky Harris I had ZERO interest in him but as Bray Wyatt I can't wait to see what's next for him.

For Heath Slater ... less so than Wyatt but Heath Slater with Nexus and then Corre I thought was bland and too cookie-cutter to be interesting. But changing to the rock star gimmick was a logical step for him and makes sense. Even if you don't like how Heath and 3MB may over-play the bad singing and rocking and partying thing ... at least for Heath a rocker gimmick make sense and there is always a chance the group can be seen as more legit if they start kickin' more butt and air guitaring less.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

I have no issues with this to be honest. At the end of the day, it shows WWE has faith in both men. It shows they believe Bo was worth bringing to the big time and investing effort into while Barrett has the power to make the kid look good and build him. I can certainly see a situation where Bo keeps getting the better of Barrett in-the-ring and Barrett slowly begins to boil over and ultimately unleash his frustrations when they square off for the IC title. I can't see Bo capturing the title, especially when WWE have gone to such lengths to try and hype Barrett as IC Champion up recently (clean win over Orton, IC Cup etc...). I expect Bo to graduate from the Barrett School of Hard Knocks, but not with honours.

 

[Big Tim]

I completely agree with the people that have said the shot should have gone to Richie Steamboat. They had the perfect story to bring him up, so I just have to believe that it was the plan all along, but it just got scrapped.

Now onto Bo Dallas. I don't really like the guy. He just seems like he is trying way too hard. He is always trying to get the fans behind him, which really is a good thing, but he needs to do it with a promo, or at least try to get Wade Barrett as much heat as possible before trying. He seems to be okay in the ring. I haven't seen him do a promo yet, but I am really hoping that he is better on the mic than he looks. And one quick question; What is with that country music as his entrance music? Is it just because hi kayfabe last name is Dallas, which is a city in Texas, which has a sterotype of people down there liking country music?

 

[Kermit]

It was a nice little sub-plot in the Rumble and I honestly was surprised to see it happen. I was even more surprised to see it happen because of the cup and the men that were announced for it. However, the cup has been canceled, most likely do to Creative making the Bo decision on a fly.

I am not sure if he will take the strap off of him at WM, but he will probably get it for it is all said and done.

 

[AhSpicyDrop]

I don't think he's a bad worker by any means but there's tons of people on the roster more deserving of a push and IC title shot than Bo Dallas.

The main issue I have with him is he looks like an Enhancement Talent more than anything else. He needs to lose the glove on his hand, regardless of it being a homage to his family history.

I'm reserving most of my judgment until I get to see him work a real match with Barrett instead of the quick surprise win he got on RAW.

At any rate the fans are the ones that kind of got punished through all of this because everyone loves tournaments, and now that Bo Dallas is in the picture that got cancelled.

 

[Viola Moonlight]

I'm not sure what they see in Bo Dallas but congratulations for being the one chosen to get on the main roster and do exceptionally well for a "no-namer." The crowd is going to need to get used to his character before we get to see Dallas compete for the Intercontinental Championship. He's got my attention because he beat Wade in singles competition but its not enough to make him a believable challenger.

This is the part where I bash WWE Creative's decision to remove the IC Cup: The WWE are trying to do two major things with the angle:

* Wade Barrett is bringing prestige back to the IC title.
* Building Bo Dallas up to be a believable champion.

Holding a tournament to determine the number one contender would be predictable to anyone with a brain that Dallas would end up winning it but if you had Dallas face a series of established heel's in the process, having hard-fought contests and showcasing what he actually brings to the table, you'd be building up Dallas correctly. He shows his stuff, the fans find out who he is and why he should cheer for him as well as making himself a viable competitor because he big pretty names. He would have earned that title shot and his challenge to the IC title would have meant so much more because he earned it against the "prestigious" IC title and its holder, Wade Barrett. However, they've foregone this because they are lazy and didn't want to book Dallas against other competitors to go over as they scared he'll become the next Tensai.

Good luck to Bo and his future career in WWE on the main roster but I think what they did with the IC Cup could potentially ruin it for him, especially if he loses because what other claim to fame does he have if loses to Barrett?

 

[Radical]

This is the part where I bash WWE Creative's decision to remove the IC Cup: The WWE are trying to do two major things with the angle:

* Wade Barrett is bringing prestige back to the IC title.
* Building Bo Dallas up to be a believable champion.

Holding a tournament to determine the number one contender would be predictable to anyone with a brain that Dallas would end up winning it but if you had Dallas face a series of established heel's in the process, having hard-fought contests and showcasing what he actually brings to the table, you'd be building up Dallas correctly. He shows his stuff, the fans find out who he is and why he should cheer for him as well as making himself a viable competitor because he big pretty names. He would have earned that title shot and his challenge to the IC title would have meant so much more because he earned it against the "prestigious" IC title and its holder, Wade Barrett. However, they've foregone this because they are lazy and didn't want to book Dallas against other competitors to go over as they scared he'll become the next Tensai.

EXACTLY!

I can't stress enough how mad I am that the WWE would announce a great idea like the Intercontinental Cup and then just cancel it to focus on the Barrett vs Dallas feud.

SO STUPID, because as you say, at least put him in the tournament so he gets a few wins. I mean, it's pretty simple. He can win over Primo or Epico and then someone like Otunga or Mahal who 'look' intimidating but are being used as more of a joke anyway so a loss to Bo wouldn't be that big of deal.

At least with a tournament you build up his credibility and show to everyone there is more than just one guy at at time who wants the IC title.

I don't even understand this from a Creative stand point either. Tournaments, IMO, are easier writing than one-off feuds. The first round of matches, whoever loses doesn't even have to matter (if WWE could handle it, it would be good but they don't have to), all you have to do is set up your brackets and put Barrett on Commentary for most/all of the matches and have him try/fail to interfere with Bo Dallas' matches until he wins the tournament and boom, you got your credible #1 Contender.

Instead I CRINGE to think what the WWE will try to do to build up this feud.

I don't even like Bo Dallas one bit but if he were at least in a Intercontinental Cup type tournament I would actually be interested in some of the matches.

Now that I know it's basically just Bo Dallas I have zero interest.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The only other thing that makes sens right now is they are simply re-treading the Razor Ramon/1-2-3 Kid angle... now that in itself isn't a bad thing. I watched CSR and heard Waldorf and Statler comparing it and even going as far as to say "Barrett isn't as big as Razor was" and that made me laugh...

When Razor lost to the Kid, he had bee in 1 Survivor Series tag main event with Flair, had 1 WWE World title match with Bret Hart and beaten Bob Backlund at Mania. That was the extent of it, his "greatness and IC runs" came after the loss to the Kid and the face turn.

Barrett main evented for nearly a year with Nexus, beat most of the main eventers including Super Cena and has held the IC title twice already. Why are they going this way with him? I think the goal is long term to get Barrett over more as a face, just as it worked for Razor... Barrett prided himself on leading the Nexus and when guys didn't show heart he would ditch them... I could actually see an odd couple/tag team coming out of the whole scenario, just as it did in 93/94 and WWE had an eye on doing more in the UK in the next 2 years, so having Barrett over as a face by that time will eliminate the whole "bizzaro land" stuff if they do go with him winning the World title in England (which if it's ever going to happen, it has to be there). You've just seen a heel in ADR who has had a new lease of life as a face, while they are teasing the same for Ziggler he doesn't need it... Barrett could really benefit from the face turn if they can make it work. Especially as they have new heels incoming like Big E., Bray Wyatt and his stable and Shield.